Monday, October 26, 2009

Chocolate Bread Pudding

When I was a kid, my grandmother made bread pudding every Thanksgiving and Christmas. My job was to cream the butter and sugar by hand. I hated, it, really hated it. Creaming the butter and sugar was hard work and it made my arm hurt. My grandmother's whiskey sauce for her bread pudding was amazing! Her bread pudding was phenomenal according to the family bread pudding experts, but her whiskey sauce did it for me! As my grandmother got older, her whiskey sauce got stronger. I had to have my serving of bread pudding with her wonderful whiskey sauce even if it made my eyes water just a bit.

Since my grandmother isn't around anymore, bread pudding isn't something I crave or ever attempted to make until I saw Paula Deen make this heavenly Chocolate Bread Pudding!

Lightly grease a 13 by 9-inch baking dish. Place the bread cubes in the baking dish.

In a large bowl, whisk together the milk, cream, and Kahlua.

In another bowl, combine the granulated and brown sugars with the cocoa powder and mix well. Add this to the milk mixture and whisk to combine.

Add the vanilla and almond extracts and the cinnamon to the beaten eggs. Combine the egg mixture with the milk mixture and mix well. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour the mixture evenly over the bread cubes; let stand, stirring occasionally, for at least 20 minutes, or until the bread has absorbed most of the milk mixture. Bake the pudding for 1 hour, or until set; a knife inserted into the center of the pudding should come out clean. Serving the pudding warm, or refrigerate it and serve chilled.Serve it warm or cold, with whipped cream or a dessert sauce. You will definitely want to add this to your holiday dessert list.

You know Bread Pudding is something our generation was raised on. Our grandmothers made the best and I've yet to find that same taste again. I went to a new little cafe downtown last week with a friend for breakfast. First time I had been out to breakfast in a long time. Well, I had heard that they had really good Bread Pudding and so I ordered nothing but that and I was not dissapointed!!! It was great and brought back a lot of memories. Still not as good as grandma's but pretty close.

I've never even attempted bread pudding! My gramma used to make a steamed pudding for dessert on Christmas, English in origin I believe...we called it Sailor Duff. The topping was some sort of sauce and whipped cream! We made fun of it as kids- but we ate it all every time!

Hi Katherine, I did make the Apple and Sausage Breakfast Bake--and the gals LOVED it. Someone else brought some home-made "Sticky-Buns"---but they were made with cream cheese instead of Cinnamon. Have you ever made them??? They are fabulous---but very rich (Just what I love)... ha ha

Your bread pudding looks great. I love Nawlins Bread Pudding--but have never had it with chocolate. I had some Peanut Butter Pie while in Maggie Valley--but it had TOO much chocolate in it for me.

Extraordinary! Bread Pudding is something I have just discovered in the past couple of years and I love it. I haven't made chocolate yet so I am bookmarking your post as the place to start. Yours looks fantastic.